The kids and I are reading Nim's Island and are having a learning blast with it. We read the first three chapters today, and then took off for further research at the library where we devoured a large stack of books and read all about sea otters, blue whales, plankton, barometers, iguanas, and more. Those chapters also inspired fun conversations about satellite dishes, laptop computers, volcanoes, cyclones, machetes, and rudders and tillers. Marian is keeping an ongoing list of all animals mentioned and I'm helping her with a side list of other topics to explore.

The scene of the massacre:

All three kids declared the coconut opening exciting and unpredictable. I wish we'd all worn safety goggles, and I'm sure the kids will never forget the vision of their sweet sweating mother repeatedly swinging a cleaver through the air at a furry brown coconut, which then protested by showering us with wooden chips at each stroke. When we finally got it open, we lost all the juice, but the meat was a hit, however stubborn. It made a nice addition to our "Nim Dinner" of coconut, seaweed, snap peas, sweet potatoes, and strawberries. (My tropical wine cooler fit with the theme as well.)

The coconut was a hit.

Mixed reviews on the seaweed. M braved a second bite, while L reacted to his first.

And Sophie ate everything.

Dry seaweed.

Rehydrated seaweed. Just for kicks. Slime and odor abound.

A simple cut and paste craft of a coconut tree, to pass the time while waiting for the eternal sweeet potatoes to finish baking.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

No, I'm not proud or anything. I've only emailed practically everyone, posted it on message boards, and am putting it on my blog. All in spite of the hugely incorrect use of "extra-ordinarily" in the article. No biggie.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Genie, the curly-tailed cat, that is. The end has been lost somewhere in the past, amputated in one way or another. Still, her remaining tail is quite spectacular. Isn't she cute? (The pictures aren't great, but the subject is.)

Uber-curly

Genie is healthy, friendly, good with kids and dogs, and just got spayed. She's avialable for adoption any time now.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Imbolc is halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. We think of it as Mother Nature being pregnant with Spring, or the Earth being wrapped in the cocoon of winter, halfway through the waiting to become a butterfly. Check out my little butterflies, in their cocoons and with their wings.

And the photo of the day:

We also made runes for the first time, and our divination was quite interesting and enlightening. That will remain in the family, but we're happy to share the blessed rune box, sculpted by Marian and decorated with runes.

Today was a lovely day of rituals, blessings, magic, nature, exploration, connections, and more. Happy Imbolc!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

The other night I had a lovely 45 minute massage. I had three kids working on me--head, back, and feet. They rotated so nobody got tired and I was in heaven. They offer, I don't ask, and I give them the option to mute my "feel good noises" if they choose. And lucky me, they've all decided that this is one of their favorite family activities EVER. Woohoo!

My 8-year-old had her first business meeting on Thursday. She had a lunch meeting with the head of the homeless shelter/homeless prevention outreach, because word got back to him that she's doing a collection. One person has already agreed to not only match, but double her personal donation of $50, so now she's up to $160 or so. In addition, someone is writing an article for the newspaper (and took pictures at the meeting), so I wouldn't be surprised to see more donations pouring into M's collection. When she's done collecting and makes the donation, they want to use it for something specific and special so she can see how many people are affected by her good deed (they're talking about a large spaghetti dinner with games for the kids, and Marian in attendance of course.)

Statistics homework is pissing me off. It isn't the subject matter that's tripping me up, it's the damn software I have to use. As if the subject matter isn't enough, they have to throw complicated user-unfriendly pain-in-the-a$$ technology in there too. Thbbpppbb.

I have an interesting foster kitten right now. She's probably 3-4 months old, but small for her age. When she came to me, she was nearly frozen, with ice hanging from her tail and fur, a nasty eye infection with pus frozen to her eyeballs, and she was extremely emaciated. I didn't expect her to make it, but so far she's hanging in there. The odd thing as that once she thawed out a little, she was purring and happy to be getting loving from me. Once I got her eyes cleared up and she could see again, she realized that I was human and she was feral. That was the first time I'd had to tame a feral kitten whom I'd already had purring in the sling. lol She also has curly-tipped ears like a Scottish fold, but Frank at the shelter thinks it's probably frostbite. The skin on them is now changing, so I think I agree. She's an interesting little critter.